Chapter 424: Stone Shadow: Cracking the Code

"These several iron chains extending from the bearing area control the mechanisms here. Only one chain triggers the correct decoding; the rest represent errors." I counted—five chains extended from that side.

I was very surprised, because I had never imagined that ancient China possessed such mature modular technology. The most famous primitive modular technique in China was movable-type printing; modular technology allows repeated use across geographical boundaries. Clearly, the mechanisms here could be applied in any location.

I immediately thought of Poker-face over there. The descendants of the Zhang Family Tower had set up such ingenious mechanisms. The geological conditions, weather, and various factors in Sichuan and Guangxi were completely different. So ensuring that the interconnected mechanisms installed in both places would remain stable for a thousand years without damage was essential.

Because the entire mechanism was designed for their own descendants—if any part on either side malfunctioned first, it could cause the death of their descendants.

An ordinary craftsman could only use clever techniques to design mechanisms suited to each location's respective conditions. But that was impossible in ancient times, because the craftsmen of that era could never calculate what would happen several centuries later. Thus, mechanisms designed according to each region's geography would become two completely different things.

Modular design, however, is different. It guarantees that no matter the environment, the same effect is achieved wherever you install it. That's why KFC tastes the same everywhere; movable type ensures a high-quality set of type can be reused multiple times.

"So what?" Xiao Hua didn't understand very well.

I said, "The ancients had a habit of considering problems from a practical standpoint. For example, in old printing, one book required carving a whole block, which became useless afterward. One ancient publisher found that annoying and invented movable type, so he could lay off half his carving craftsmen and keep only the best spares. No one would modularize just for the sake of modularization; the ancients' modularization was always an adjustment made in anticipation of a large amount of repetitive labor."

If the craftsmen here used modules, the only reason I could think of was that they didn't want to design mechanisms for every link individually. So it's very possible that all the mechanisms here, and those in Guangxi, used this same honeycomb-like thing. If Poker-face knocked open those stones, he might see the same thing I see here.

The designers of the Zhang Family Tower had already designed everything and built these mechanisms before selecting the construction site. That way, they only needed to pick a spot, dig a few holes, and install the modules.

"I kind of get what you mean." Xiao Hua seemed to understand my thinking better than Fatty. "Damn, that's a bit impressive. Are you saying that the Zhang Family Tower is movable?"

I nodded. "The biggest advantage of modularization is that it can be disassembled and taken away entirely. Look at the Yangshi Lei style, look at all the other traces—the iron tools and chains here, but only this thing is bronze. It shows that in history, those Zhang ancestors' coffins have been moved more than once. The so-called Zhang Family Tower must only be the last location."

Xiao Hua smiled meaningfully. "I've found another reason why Old Madam Huo insisted on bringing you along. In a way, you're also a bit impressive."

I grimaced, thinking to myself that these words sounded like he originally didn't want me in his group at all.

I crouched down, shining my flashlight at the thing below. "I think Yangshi Lei was just a contractor. They helped the so-called Zhang family build the Zhang Family Tower to house those coffins, but they weren't involved any further."

"Lei Siqi's later years were during Empress Dowager Cixi's time. The Qing empire's mountains of gold and silver were already exhausted. The Lei family was large and well-connected. Whether out of friendship or taking private jobs, they might have helped the Zhang family build a new ancestral tomb."

"Yes. Perhaps every time the Zhang family built a new ancestral tomb, because these ancient towers were erected in extremely strange and inaccessible places, they had to seek out the best craftsmen of the era."

"Then, if they lived at the end of the Yuan and beginning of the Ming, they might even have had contacts with Wang Zanghai," Xiao Hua said.

I nodded. That was very possible, as long as the family truly had such a long history. And I believed that with the development of transportation, these two locations would grow farther apart. Perhaps originally, the cave holding the "key" and the Zhang family's collective burial site were separated by only one mountain. Then they gradually moved to a different province, and then to the distance between Sichuan and Guangxi. If the Zhang descendants still existed, the next move might be abroad.

This also explained another doubt I had. I had never been able to determine the dynasty of the things here. If that was the case, then after years of renovation, some items would bear traces of multiple dynasties, making judgment almost impossible.

"Enough of that. Since you're so impressive, can you figure out which of these iron chains is the correct one?" Xiao Hua asked me. "Or do we just have to try them one by one? There are five chains here. If we pull the wrong one, we'll activate the mechanism above. That pig up there will be turned into a pincushion, or some other mechanism might trigger, but we'll be safe here."

In theory, we could just pull all five chains and then leave, but I didn't know what mechanism was set up there. If a huge boulder fell and sealed us inside, we'd be dead.

"Modern passwords usually have error limits—only after too many mistakes does a penalty procedure trigger. But the ancients weren't so merciful. And this place hasn't been used very often. So one mistake could be fatal. We have to know exactly which chain to pull."

"What's your plan, Third Young Master Doctor?" Xiao Hua looked at me. "I think I could offer a course in the Old Nine Gates called 'Academic Tomb Raiding' and have you give a few lectures."

I found it amusing inside. Sometimes I do have a tendency to lecture, especially when I figure something out. I always want to immediately share it so others can feel the same way. Before, Fatty often had sudden inspirations, but I had no one to analyze things with. Xiao Hua, however, can keep up, so I talked a bit more. I used to think it was undignified, but after too many times, I felt it didn't matter.

I looked at the whole honeycomb and fell into thought. After a moment, I asked him, "What is your usual method?"

"What did you call it? Modular? As you said, I've never seen this kind of thing before. Usually we can clearly spot traps that haven't been triggered and then disable them. Our rule is to see how the mechanism works. So if we were doing it, we'd break open this hornet's nest."

The entire bronze ball was cast shut; it couldn't be opened. Besides, the place was full of water, and we didn't have time to take such risks. Moreover, if we opened it, we might completely destroy the inner workings, like taking apart a clock as a child and finding all the gears scattered on the floor, never to be reassembled.

I did my best to submerge myself in the water, with Xiao Hua illuminating for me, and examined the iron chains. They were all identical; presumably neither the mechanism nor the correct chain had been used frequently.

"How about this way of thinking? Look, the dead people we saw above all died in the hands of those hairs. We didn't see any signs of triggered traps. If that's the case, either the Old Nine Gates did nothing here except steal those ancient texts, or we can assume that no very devastating traps were set here," Xiao Hua said.

I understood his point, but I didn't dare assume anything now. "We can't rely on guesses. What if they really did nothing?"

"Impossible. I know the Old Nine Gates, I know those people. Unless they encountered something extremely terrifying that scared them out of their wits, no difficulty would make them stop. And to scare them out of their wits—I can't imagine what that would be. The most direct evidence is all that blood on the iron plate."

I thought it over and felt something was off. "It doesn't add up. A mechanism this carefully designed must have some terrible countermeasure. Ancient codes weren't too complex. If someone could try again and again, they'd soon figure out the correct one, making such elaborate mechanisms meaningless. But you also have a point. If it were just ordinary trapping mechanisms, the Old Nine Gates wouldn't have been scared off. Old Madam Huo said a huge accident happened here, with serious losses. If it were just a few snakes, some insects, or some darts and falling rocks, a group their size could handle it easily." Xiao Hua nodded. "For example, those black fuzz, or even that hair outside. If it was on that scale—"

"Then what happened to me in Qaidam would occur. They might even burn off the black fuzz from those jars, then carefully move them out one by one, seal them in glass boxes, pack them up, and send them to the National Museum. So any actual physical threat is no threat to them. Even if a dinosaur killed over a dozen people, it would soon be shot to death by later arrivals. But in this cave, almost nothing has been damaged. They didn't use any violent methods. Why?"

"What exactly is your conclusion?" Xiao Hua was getting a bit impatient.

"Right now I can only hypothesize about some details. For example, why didn't they dispose of those black-haired jars? They had so many people, so much time, and any weapon they wanted. With all that, they still didn't act. The only possibility is that they considered it unnecessary," I said. "Our predecessors, those old-timers, didn't take those jars seriously at all."

I could roughly imagine the scene. They ignored those black fuzz, and the jars were undamaged, which also shows that the accident they finally encountered had nothing to do with these jars.

Similarly, Old Madam Huo said something happened here that caused severe losses to them. It wouldn't be a physical threat. It definitely wasn't any hidden arrows or falling rocks.

What could cause the Old Nine Gates such severe losses on this scale wouldn't be physical—it could only be psychological.

The accident they encountered must have been something they couldn't comprehend. If you can't understand it, you can't defend against it.

I said, "They must have prepared everything, then activated the mechanism, thinking they could handle it. But unexpectedly, what happened was bizarre and completely different from what they believed."

Xiao Hua still looked confused, so I gave an example: "If you activate a mechanism and arrows fly at you, you can block them with a shield. If a zombie lunges at you, you can mow it down with an AK47. But if something completely incomprehensible happens, there's no way to remedy it. For instance, you activate the mechanism." I paused, "Then you disappear, never to be seen again."

I once heard about a very strange disappearance in the mountainous area of Zhejiang. A team of forest rangers went missing in the mountains. Then the government sent people up to search, and three more disappeared on the way down. They mobilized armed police and civilians, and still more people vanished. Those people were never seen again. Even a thorough, carpet-like search yielded nothing. The old folks in the mountains said they were taken by the Mountain Granny. In the end, the troops withdrew from the area and the matter was dropped.

The scale of the mountain patrols back then was so massive that even if the Mountain Granny really existed and was as huge as Ultraman, she would have been wiped out. Only the inexplicable could make a force with unlimited money and manpower retreat.

"Of course, the actual situation might be even stranger," I said. "Because Jin Wantang said that many people were carried down covered in blood, and all of them were dead. But we haven't gotten confirmation from Old Madam, so we can't know the truth and can't speculate further."

"Alright," Xiao Hua smiled lightly. "You've said so much just to tell me not to recklessly trigger those mechanisms. I agree, but it doesn't help our situation. Now you've got me so scared I don't even dare to try."

The icy water stung the wounds on my back. I couldn't take it anymore and stepped back a few paces. I could feel a burning pain starting in my back; the anesthetic was clearly wearing off. Then I saw over a dozen thinner iron chains extending outward from this honeycomb structure.

These chains were clearly connected to the final trigger mechanisms. They were linked to a dozen small holes in the cave wall. I believed that if we pulled a few of the thick chains, some of these thin chains would definitely move in sequence.

I looked around and immediately realized what we should do. It was actually very simple.

For a mechanism, only two choices are enough: A is correct procedure — mechanism activates a reward; B is incorrect procedure — mechanism activates a punishment.

Here there are three iron chains that will be pulled in sequence by a bearing on the other side. This is like a three-digit password. Then the internal mechanisms of this honeycomb will be triggered, pulling the thin chains that extend into the cave wall, activating the reward or punishment.

So it's very simple: most random pulls will be wrong. Only the correct pull leads to the correct sequence. Therefore, if we cut all the thin chains, we can experiment endlessly. Most of the time, we'll trigger the wrong sequence. Once we know the wrong sequence, we can immediately recognize the correct one when it appears.

Although the permutations of a five-number password from one to five are a bit tedious, compared to modern combination locks, this manual labor is nothing.

Xiao Hua gave me an awesome gesture. I didn't believe he hadn't thought of it, so I patted him on the shoulder.

The next task was physical and required careful attention. We first numbered all the thin chains, then carefully cut them with a hacksaw, marking both ends of each cut to avoid confusion.

Then we tested them one by one in order, and it was exactly as I had said. Most of the pulls resulted in the thin chains being activated in the same sequence. There were twenty-three thin chains in total, and the sequence for the punishment was: four, five, eight, twelve, twenty-one.

Finally, we discovered a sequence different from this punishment order.

Xiao Hua recorded it, then reconnected those chains with carabiners and tried again.

Watching the thin chains being pulled instantly, my heart leaped into my throat. Then we heard an ancient, heavy sound coming from within the cave wall.

The sound lasted a full five to six minutes, then stopped. I looked at Xiao Hua, and Xiao Hua looked at me. We were both alive; nothing had happened.

We both knew we had succeeded. Up in the stone chamber above, something must have changed.